


Rogers Sneak Up on You

by paburke



Series: RogersVerse [6]
Category: Castle, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 14:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1860996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paburke/pseuds/paburke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce doesn't want to do this interview, but Steve asked as a favor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rogers Sneak Up on You

*rogersverse*

Bruce Banner paced the length of the Hulk room, annoyed. He hated this plan but every single one of the Avengers -on Earth, though Bruce knew that Thor would agree with the others- wanted this to happen.

Hulk rumbled under Bruce’s skin, anticipating. Bruce pushed him down again, forceful. Not yet.

Richard Castle bounced into the room with energy –and a lack of fear- that reminded the scientist of Tony. He held out his hand to Bruce. “Hi! I’m Richard. I’m so glad you agreed to meet with me.” 

“You understand the safety procedures?” Bruce demanded.

Castle blustered. “I’m sure that’s not going to be an issue.”

Bruce looked past Castle to Steve. “He knows the safety procedures?”

Steve smiled at him, his real smile not his public smile. “I made sure.” He set a huge basket of soft, fresh rolls on the table and stepped back. They would hopefully serve as a double purpose: to feed the Hulk and to provide tempting ammunition that wouldn’t hurt. Steve would stay close to grab Castle if the Hulk became dangerous. (Who was he kidding? The Hulk was always dangerous.)

Castle grabbed a roll and started munching. “From Burke Events. Nothing tastes better. Want one?” he held one out to Bruce.

Bruce shook his head. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Castle enthused, “From both points of view. Unless you agree on everything and that’s boring.”

Bruce shook his head at the author’s opinion. “Differing points of view creates conflict.”

“Let’s start with the easy stuff,” Castle said, completely rolling over Bruce’s worries. “What’s your favorite color?”

Even seeming innocent questions like this could be jarring. “Blue.” It used to be green.

“You’ve traveled all over the world. Where’s your favorite place?”

Bruce thought about it. “My lab at Stark’s.” Tony was going to preen when gossip got back to him. Pepper would try to make it a little homier. Though the cot in the corner was already incredibly comfortable.

“Why?”

“I get to experiment. Few distractions and every piece of equipment I could ever want.”

Castle wrote down the answer and asked, “Is it because Stark would never lock you out and it’s a safe place or because it’s all you and none of the Big Green?”

Bruce felt his heart rate jump at the insight. He controlled it. He glared enough –at Steve in the open doorway- to express his displeasure. Why had he thought that a fiction writer would be writing a puff piece? Castle was waiting. “A little of both,” the scientist finally admitted.

“I’m guessing that I’m going to get a description out of the Big Guy when I ask him the same question. Do you know his favorite place?”

“In the rain forest, in Brazil.” Bruce felt off balanced and feared that the entire interview was going to oscillate from puff to heart-wrenching and back again. He feared Hulk’s interview even more. And if Castle got his way, this would merely be the first of several.

*rogersverse*

On the other side of the one-way mirror, Phil Coulson was pleased with how the interview was progressing. Castle was better than expected. Of course, SHIELD was interested in any words that Castle could pry out of the quiet scientist and his very loud alter ego. Coulson would be verifying everything against Banner’s file and reworking his psych profile. 

He was flipping through the file to Banner’s time in South America when he saw it. He didn’t pause, he didn’t react (or gush) but he did see it. He was still seeing it when he put a pencil to the appropriate page to write ‘Hulk influencing time spent here?’ He could perfectly recall the sketch of himself. Front and center was rather boring, perfectly depicting his accountant demeanor, but Steve Rogers had added many extra arms juggling. (Phil could recognize the man’s style and scribbled signature anywhere… he might have abused his security clearance to peek at the icon’s sketch books from WWII in SHIELD storage. Plus the Captain America biography had included several of Steve’s sketches, a brilliant PR tactic on Castle’s part.) Steve had Phil juggling a bow and arrow, a spider, Stark’s chest piece, paper and more papers, a gun, an eye-patch, and a cello while other arms were lashing out with a ‘POW’ and ‘SMACK’ to a couple of villains.

Phil was going to frame it at his first opportunity. He didn’t know what he’d do with it after. It was a little too personal to hang in his office, but too… fun to be packed away with his collectors’ cards. He considered his apartment but he was so rarely there. Sneaking it out of SHIELD wouldn’t be a problem… but how had Steve snuck it into Phil’s office and into his paperwork? Phil hadn’t noticed anything out of place, including his seemingly innocuous paperweights that were really an early warning system against intruders. Phil glanced at Natasha and Barton to see if they were accomplices. Both were looking at him as if he was the mystery. So no, they hadn’t helped Steve, but they were going to try to steal Banner’s folder at the earliest opportunity to see what had him distracted and amused. 

Phil debated and finally decided to allow one or the other to lift the folder. That way he spread the fun of the comic and he personally didn’t have to share. Though the comic was sure to make its way around SHIELD, the original was sure to be returned to him. Then he could frame it and hang it at home.

In the extremely sturdy room, Castle was encouraging Bruce to change into his alter ego. Castle was persuasive and Steve was supportive (and ready to run/defend/protect).

The Hulk emerged roaring.

Castle laughed with joy. Phil was so very glad that Castle and Stark didn’t like each other. If they egged each other on akin to how they egged on the Hulk the world might end.

Castle asked the Hulk for his favorite color and the Other Guy pointed to his own skin.

“I knew it!” Castle exclaimed. “You have to tell me everything!”

The Hulk sat with a _thump_ , at ease, and with every appearance at being willing to talk to someone so excited to listen. SHIELD –and everyone else- had been approaching the Hulk all wrong.

*rogersverse*


End file.
